SHIFT
by Athena'sPride95
Summary: (REUPLOAD; GRAMMAR AND SPELLING FIX) What do you get when you mix magic, machinery and mortal video games? A massive catastrophe, and a digital experience that makes the matrix look like a Playstation one, as Leo Valdez is about to learn at the unveiling of his latest contraption. TOO MANY CROSSOVERS TO LIST AS A CROSSOVER! Rated T for now. May go up later.
1. Chapter 1: The man,hour and table

**Oh wow re-reading this its amazing how many errors you spot.**

**Greetings Half-Bloods! Since I have decided to reactivate this (Thank you Microzombie) I deleted the old one went through, made some drastic changes to the old draft and now its back and far better. I also haven't listed it as a crossover this time because there will be FAR TOO MANY to just list it as one.**

**And now for the boilerplate disclaimer: I do not own PJO or any of its related character's locations or content. All rights reserved by Rick Riordan.**

* * *

Chapter 1: The man, the hour. And the table

You know, I've built a lot of sweet stuff in my time. I've built things that have changed the world, saved friends and loved ones and in some cases created some friends and loved ones. Not wishing to brag but for a _hombre_ like me who always had trouble finding anything to be proud of, anything to help me find a place, it's quite an accomplishment. A few years ago if you had told me that this little Latino could have repaired and befriended a giant bronze dragon, built a magical warship for the greatest quest in history or unravelled the long lost secrets of Archimedes I would have thought you completely _loco._ That's what happened and look at me now still alive, still creating and hooked up to the hottest immortal girl ever to be saved from imprisonment.

But hey, I'm wandering a little here. I'm sure you could listen all day to the details of my amazingly weird life and trust me I would love to tell you them all but let's get back to the real reason for this story. It's about the mountain I built. Not a real one obviously though technically it was such a monumental development that it might as well have been. The most amazing piece of kit ever created. Something to completely change demigod life and bring Ancient Greece into the modern world, or bring the modern world into Ancient Greece depending on how you look at it. At least that's what it was supposed to be. In fact it was dangerous and terrifying and could have resulted in the deaths of the greatest heroes for millennia, myself not included. It certainly changed the lives of my friends, though not in the spectacular way I had hoped. I mean seriously? I don't care what happened in there no one should just gain an extra foot in height and be able to pick up . . . umm, sorry.

I'll start at the beginning. It was the middle of summer session at Camp Half-Blood and I had been up for two nights solid working on my latest project. I was excited because it was the first one which I had actually received licence from my dad to develop for him. Anyway I'd just put the finishing touches to it and plugged it in when I heard the conch shell for dinner. You may wonder how I could hear it from bunker nine but to tell the truth dinner is at the same time every night and I just set an alarm. I was having a mental _fiesta _at its completion, though honestly I hadn't held up much hope at first 'cause the first twelve times it had blown up and the other three the test objects had ended up as so much radioactive slop. Now though it worked. Yes it needed some tweaks before it could hit the Olympian entertainment market but it worked!

I stumbled into the dining pavilion that evening with two thoughts on my mind.  
The first was **_Tacos_** and the second was **_Holy Hephaestus I did it!_** My _hermanos _could see I was excited because before I even made it to the table they called out to me and asked what was up.  
"Oh man" I said sliding into the line just as we began to get dinner "you'll see but you're gonna have to wait just a little longer"  
"Oh come on Leo" Harley groaned as I walked back past him to drop a fajita into the fire for dad. "You're so secretive with all your projects and the last one just turned out to be a toothbrush!"  
"Hey!" I said hurt "how many toothbrushes have you had that could tell you the exact percentage of plaque on your teeth and how bad your breath smells?"  
"Oh yeah and that did you a lot of good didn't it?" he scoffed.  
"Umm which one of has a girlfriend?" he didn't answer. "And which one of us didn't get that kiss at the dance because his breath smelled of Big Mac?" It was a mean thing to do but if there one thing I hate more than care homes its people mocking my inventions.

Dinner came and went in a flash. I inhaled my Tacos and didn't say much. Especially when people asked me about what I'd been doing for the past month. There were only a few people I wanted to share this with right now and until the campfire started I couldn't talk to them. After Chiron dismissed us from the pavilion I bolted outside to wait for my friends. I couldn't have stood there for more than a minute but even that felt like a year. Jason and Piper came out of the pavilion talking and laughing together in that corny romantic movie way they always seemed to be when I saw them.  
"Yo, love birds" I called gesturing towards them "get your butts over here. I've got something big to tell you."  
They walked up to me, in no particular hurry, which gave me plenty of time to think about how weird it was to see Jason in an orange T-shirt rather than a purple one. At the end of the Giant war he opted to vacate his position of Praetor altogether and live year round at Camp Half-Blood with Piper. I didn't mind, I mean Jason was my bro we looked out for each other. But still I couldn't help feeling like he should have stayed at Camp Jupiter, he was Roman born and raised the barcode on his arm showed that true enough. He still called the Gods by their Roman names too, which made visits to Olympus difficult because every time he opened his mouth he gave them a _splitting _headache. See what I did there? Ah please yourselves.

Still if there was one person I'd want around it was Jason.  
"Hey Leo what's up? Did your mechanical trousers steal your wallet again?"  
**_Until he opens his mouth._**  
"Ha ha Jason." I said not amused in the slightest "no I actually wanted to ask if you two would like come by and see my latest project. Just finished it tonight and trust me it is awesome!"  
Jason looked at me funny "is it likely to blow up?"  
"NO! Well not much" I admitted sheepishly. Jason had been around for demonstrations of most of my stuff and he had seen stuff go wrong, badly.  
"Aww come on Jason" Piper giggled next to him "Rumours are going round that it's going to change the way we train BIG TIME. This could be fun"  
I didn't say anything when Jason looked back at me. That was one of the many rumours that had been going round but I'd done nothing to confirm or deny them. It was private and in all honesty if it worked then I was going to go private with it and modifying it for training purposes wouldn't be all that difficult.  
"All right then sounds good" Jason concluded "when do you want us to…?"  
"Friday evening" I said quickly because I'd just spotted the other people I wanted to see. I took off in their direction. "Oh by the way see if Thalia wants to come. This could be good for the hunters too" I called over my shoulder.  
"OK" Jason yelled back.

I reached Percy and Annabeth as they were about to approached the amphitheatre. They were deep in discussion about tactics for the war games when they got home. Again it took me a few seconds to get round their clothes, or more specifically their cloaks. Praetors the pair of them, they'd moved to Camp Jupiter at the end of the giant war to attend college together and in that time they'd become head honchos, bought a house and were now engaged.  
"Excuse me Sir, Ma'am?" I joked jogging up next to them and giving a mock Roman salute.  
"Hey Leo what's up?" Percy asked.  
"Well I know you're here on your annual 'True Home' visit and all but I was wondering if Friday night you two want to come take part in a demo of my new project?"  
Annabeth of course said yes. Being the daughter of the wisdom goddess she was one of the only people outside my own cabin who understood when I explained how my stuff actually worked. Percy always had time for me. I'd never felt the same _connexion_ with him as I had with Jason but he was still a great friend and a true leader.  
"I'll see you Friday then. Also could you see if Hazel and Frank would be interested? We could do like some re-union thing you know? Jason and Piper have already said they're coming"  
"I'm sure they'd love to" Annabeth said "See you there". They were back to strategy before they were even out of earshot.

**_This is gonna be awesome!_** I thought as I took my place with my siblings on the amphitheatre. If I had known how wrong I was at that moment I would have swallowed a litre of battery acid right there.

* * *

**_Friday; Demo day_**

Friday morning came and I was up before dawn making final adjustments to my project of awesomeness. I was in the bunker for an hour before Calypso bustled past claiming the noise was intolerable and she was going to do some gardening until I'd finished fiddling with my 'new toy' as she was calling it. At nine o'clock I headed into camp for breakfast and the day's activities; archery, forging, sword fighting practice, arts and crafts with molten steel and canoeing but my mind wasn't on any of them. I couldn't really focus until dinner when it wouldn't be long before my friends would come see my work in all its techy glory.

As it turned out I was in for a surprise that night.  
As the campfire came to a close and everyone got up to leave Chiron approached me "Leo my lad. Percy tells me you just recently finished your project and intended to demonstrate it this evening."  
"Yeah that's right. I don't suppose you'd wanna come watch as well would you?"  
Chiron smiled "As a matter of fact I was just about to ask if I might be allowed to attend."  
"Sure" I said delighted that even the camp director had taken an interest in my work "I'm just heading to the bunker now if you want to come with me."

When we arrived several people were already there. Annabeth and Percy were waiting and so was Thalia daughter of Zeus and Lieutenant of Artemis. She was difficult to miss, dark makeup, black leather, silver camo, glowing skin. I'd had a major crush on her once for about five minutes when we met her for the first time, fighting some were-wolf dudes beneath the fortress of wind or whatever it was. Then she'd rejected me and I'd moved on. I did that a lot, then I met Calypso. Speaking of which she was there too talking to Annabeth who crouched next to her as she tended her Moonlace.  
"Hey guys" I yelled as I got closer "I'll get us inside, it's cold out here. We'll wait for the others in the hangar."  
I moved past them and ignited a fire in my hand pressing it against a recess in the limestone. As always the fire spread across the cliff face then the huge doors swung open silently and I led them inside. The doors began to swing shut behind us but I pressed a button and stopped it short just before it closed entirely leaving enough room for a couple of people to squeeze through.

"Make yourselves at home guys as soon as the others are here I'll show you Mount Vedie"  
"Mount what?" Annabeth looked up from the work bench where she was examining one of the many blueprints I'd left lying around.  
"All in good time my dear praetor. Anyone want a coke?" I moved to the fridge I had installed against the hangar wall and pulled out a couple of six packs. I set them on the nearby counter and closed it again, popping the top on one and taking a swig.  
"Got any cherry ones?" Percy asked.  
"Sure" I tossed him one "Anyone else?"  
I nearly crapped myself when a cold quiet voice spoke next to me "I'll have one"  
"_MADRE DI DIOS!_" I feel backwards landing on my rear the coke can flew from my hand to sail through the air and whack me on the head. I looked around for the speaker but there was no-one new in the hangar.  
Then Nico Di Angelo stepped from the deep shadows in the bunker wall, he chuckled coldly "sorry didn't mean to startle you" everyone began laughing.  
"Nico" I said angrily rubbing my head and my rear, both hurt, "Don't do that you could give a guy a heart attack".  
Percy stopped laughing long enough to speak "what's happening Nico? I wondered if you'd show up."  
"Yes well I would have missed it but I overheard gossip from the Hephaestus campers about Leo being hyper more hyper than usual. I saw him head this way with Chiron and curiosity got the better of me so I invited myself." He looked at me as he said that last bit and I got the feeling he wasn't thrilled about not being told.

"I didn't invite you because I couldn't find you" I said defensively "you're hardly ever at camp and when you are you're never anywhere to be found!"  
The other reason was that he still creeped me out big time but I didn't say that out loud. He took a can of Coke zero and sat against one wall watching us all quietly. Eventually Jason and Piper arrived with Hazel and Frank in tow.  
"Evening all" Hazel said in her heavy New Orleans accent "it's been too long." Annabeth leaped up from the couch where she and Percy had been chilling and hugged her. Nico usually did his best to avoid physical contact with anyone but he went up and hugged his half-sister tightly as well. He acted so strange it was easy for me to forget that he was the youngest person there.  
"What's up?" Frank said giving Percy, Jason and me a fist bump.  
Chiron who had been in deep conversation with Thalia since they had arrived turned to me. "Well, now that we're all here it seems your moment has come Leo my boy."  
"Right. Follow us" I suddenly felt nervous. I took Calypso's hand and together we led them to a lift. We shot up to the upper catwalk and made our way deeper into the facility.  
"You've been doing some digging" hazel observed as we walked past some of the open tunnels.  
"Yeah" I answered "some of them lead to empty caves but some of them had rooms in them" I pointed to an open tunnel leading off of the catwalk on the other side of the hangar. "That leads to some command centre or other" I pointed to another well-lit one "and that one leads to the archives"  
"Archives?" Annabeth asked, interested.  
"Yeah all the blueprint's, manuals, scrolls and stuff are in there."  
"Oh you'll have to show me later" typical Annabeth if there's books she's happy.

Finally we came to a tunnel near the rear of the hanger, blocked by a heavy steel door and retinal scanner. Call me paranoid but there are still far too many people who would do the wrong kind of things with my stuff. We all halted by the door and I couldn't help it; I had to go for a bit of cinematic drama. The occasion demanded it and the opportunity couldn't be ignored. I let go of Calypso's hand to use the scanner.  
"Ladies and gentlemen" I announced as it scanned my eye "welcome too . . ."  
**_Pause for effect_**. The door swung open "Mount Vedie!"

The response was exactly the one I had hoped for; a long awed intake of breath.  
"Welcome to the modern world. Whoa, mind the cables as you step in" I warned them stepping over a length of cable that was as thick as my torso. The chamber was a round room 50 feet high and riddled with a mass of wires, monitors, drives and celestial bronze. On a raised catwalk stood the control panel and beyond that with wires flowing from its belly and out of its top was the core of VEDIE.  
"By all the gods" Annabeth exclaimed scaling the steps to the suspended platform "What _is _this?"  
I could see on the faces of all that they wanted an explanation but there was work for me to do so I said "Calypso why don't you lay it out for them while I take care of the setup?"  
She looked at me, irritated for a moment then turned to the assembled group. Slowly and clearly as though she was a tour guide at a museum she began to explain. I should have devoted all my attention to what I was doing but I couldn't help listening to her musical voice as she spoke.  
"MT VEDIE stands for Magic and Technology, Virtual Environment Digital Imagination Engine. A unique fusion of modern mortal electronics, Hephaestus grade engineering and a touch of enchantment this machine can take any digitally programmed environment, modify it, give it life and then allow you to interface with it in full sensory simulation. We developed it under licence from Hephaestus, it could revolutionise not only the entertainment industry but also education and hero training. You are the first people other than us to see it."

When she finished the only sound was made by me as I madly scrambled around doing some last minute wiring. Curious I glanced over the edge to look. Chiron and Annabeth seemed to have understood they nodded slowly whispering and pointing to various pieces of the machine as if theorising how each component worked. Thalia looked thoughtful, Nico looked detached so as ever I had no idea what the guy was thinking and Frank, Hazel and Piper were now talking to calypso about what I had no idea. Jason and Percy though being "average teenage males" when it came to technical stuff looked at each other, then Percy asked no-one in particular "So it's like the matrix then?"  
I burst out laughing, everyone turned to look at me "yeah dude except you don't get used as the batteries". Looking around to make sure there was nothing else left to do I said "Ok if you make your way onto the central platform I can show you where the magic happens."  
Chiron looked dubious "those steep steel stairs may prove troublesome for my hooves".  
"Way ahead of ya old timer" I called and lowered a pneumatic lift, he stepped onto it, Calypso followed and I brought them up to join me in the control booth.

The others stood on the large circular platform the other side of the glass screen. I pulled the central lever on the console and VEDIE sprang to life with a hum of electronics and the grinding of bronze gears. Lights flickered on across the various consoles.  
"Ok" I said into the mike, my voice blasting around the chamber "Who wants to go first?"  
Annabeth immediately yelled "YES!" after a few moments I heard seven more consents, first Percy then the rest followed more slowly. I punched in eight players, which was good because that was the maximum I could, and the centre of the platform spiralled open. From the core of the machine rose eight interface pods slotting into place with mechanical _thunks._ They swung open releasing their pressure seals with a hiss.  
I grinned to myself but Percy began poking fun "seriously dude? Next thing Mr spock is going to turn up!" I did my best to ignore him.  
"If you would care to leave all personal electronic devices, snacks and beverages in the care of my good friend Beaufort" on cue the flying table helicoptered onto the platform and landed next to Nico "We can begin."

I watched Annabeth take out the phone she wasn't supposed to have and put it on the table, Hazel took out what looked to be an e-book device and Nico went ahead and piled an electronics store on the table. I was a bit more than surprised to see him take out a phone, a black ipod, a charger, a camera and an old portable games console and stack them on the table.  
"Dude how are you still alive?" I asked examining the stuff Beaufort brought me as I put it in a security box under the control console.  
"I guess monsters don't like the taste of the dead very much" He mused.  
**_oookay _**I thought **_not an entirely unexpected answer coming from _****that ****_guy._**

Beaufort hovered back over and Jason, Piper, Percy and Nico placed their now empty coke cans on him. Then all eight of them approached the pods.  
"Biometric encoder ready" I told them checking my screens "go ahead and place your thumb on the panel next to your pod." They all did so and the action was quickly followed by eight simultaneous involuntary flinches as the pods pricked them to sample their DNA. Again I had to try not to laugh as several of them glared at me.  
"What?" I asked around my smile "now you can be encoded. Go ahead and climb in."  
Frank hesitated "is this safe? I've seen the matrix and I don't fancy dying of cardiac arrest if I catch a bullet or something."  
I was getting impatient, the suspense was killing me "no its fine. I've tested it myself died no less than forty seven times and I'm still alive and kicking. And I'm going to be over there kicking your fat ass Zhang if you don't get in that pod!"  
"Fine" he grunted squeezing into a pod that was barley big enough for his bulky frame.

**_Here we go.  
_**I flicked the switch locking them all into the same digital vector. One world for all of them would be quite enough for a first run. _Minecraft _should be safe enough as long as I loaded it on peaceful mode though the blocky nature of it might be a little weird for their first time.  
"Ok" I announced into the mike "We are locked and ready to sync. Prepare for the weirdest experience of your life."  
I pushed the button. Gears whirred and VEDIE's electro-magical core began to pulse brightly. A progress bar appeared on my screen:

**NERUAL LINKS DETECTED,  
IMPULSE READERS AT 100% AND HOLDING**

**ESTABLISHING VEDIE LIVE CONNECTION 10%, 15%, 20%**

Chiron and Calypso were watching me intently, so it wasn't until I looked up that anyone noticed Beaufort still sitting on the central platform.  
"HEY BEUFORT" I shouted "YOU'LL THROW OFF THE CALIBRATION!"  
I shouldn't have said anything. And I don't mean that in a mild regret at being angry kind of way. I really wish I'd just left him there. Beaufort heard me and scrambled off the platform. Unfortunately as he did so he lost some of the empty cans . . . and one of them wasn't that empty.

Just my luck, building the greatest games console ever what to I forget? Basic insulation. Every component that might allow a signal to escape and attract monsters was shielded with celestial bronze. Unfortunately it didn't protect against diet coke. I should have killed the power but that would probably have killed all eight of my friends. As the coke spilled on the unprotected workings a surge shot up into the control panel.  
"_Hijo de Puta!" _I swore as sparks erupted from my console and a seriously emphatic message appeared on screen:

**SURGE PROTECTOR OVERLOAD  
CATASTROPHIC ERROR  
SUGGESTED COURSE OF ACTION: PRAY**

At that moment I hated my own sense of humour. Seconds later eight agonised screams erupted from the pods.  
"Valdez" Chiron gripped my shoulder so hard it bruised; he wasn't bothering to hide his fear "Get them out of there now!"  
I desperately hit everything on the control panel trying to elicit some response.  
"Nothing's working" I cried desperately. I turned to Calypso hoping for a calming influence to help me think. She wasn't there. "Calypso?" She had vaulted the railings and was trying to pull the plug on the system but the moment she grabbed the wire a blast of electricity threw her backward.  
"Calypso!" I cried but I couldn't move, I had to stop eight deaths and I was running out of time!

Then just as quickly as it had come it died. The only noise was the gentle beep of the any still functional electrical equipment and the fizzle of sparks from the wrecked console. On the network overview console, this was on a separate connection and luckily hadn't fried, another message flashed up. One that I had certainly never programmed into the system:

**DLC INSTALLATION COMPLETE,  
LOADING IN PROGRESS PLEASE WAIT . . .**

**_DLC _**I thought, confused. **_Downloadable content?_**

Calypso, the ends of her hair singed and smoking had picked herself up from the floor and shakily moved over to the pods.  
She glanced in each one then said "I do not think they are dead" I breathed a sigh of relief.  
"Thank the Gods" Chiron breathed.  
"They're gone"  
"WHAT?!" exclaimed the old centaur.  
"The pods are all empty" Calypso told him quietly afraid of the anger in his eyes. He turned to stare down at me and I could feel his eyes boring into me. A cold feeling spread along the length of my spine but all I could do was stare at the message on the screen.  
I flinched when he spoke "What has happened Leo?"  
I couldn't say anything **_DLC _**I kept thinking **_that's impossible._**  
"VALDEZ!" Chiron snapped.  
"I don't know" I told him "Let me see if I can . . ."  
Then message changed:

**LOADING COMPLETE,  
SCANNING FOR HALF-BLOOD BIOMETRICS . . .**

**_But if the pods are empty then . . . ?_**  
The giant monitor the wall behind us lit up and eight picture-in-picture windows divided it up. Seven were black except for the words **SIGNAL DETECTED, STANDING BY** on them but the first window in the top left screen said **SESSION IN PROGRESS. DO YOU WISH TO SPECTATE? **  
"Leo" Chiron said not taking his eyes from the monitor. "I pray that doesn't mean what I think it does."  
**_So do I. _**  
Hesitantly I hit yes on my console. The window enlarged to fill the screen and images began to appear.  
"Chiron you can stop praying now. It didn't work."


	2. Chapter 2: On the edge Piper

**And here we have a rework of the other original chapter. Everything after this will be NEW.**

**Disclaimer part 2: I do not own Mirror's Edge or any of its related characters, locations and content. All rights reserved by ****_EA _****and ****_Dice entertainment._**

* * *

Chapter 2: On the Edge; Piper

I woke up to a sunny sky on clear day and in that instant everything was perfect. It was just another day at camp and I must have dozed off under the summer sun. I lay there for a few seconds longer not thinking about much and just enjoying the sun's rays. Then I rolled over and yelped in fear as I almost fell to my death. Somehow I had nearly rolled right off the edge of the building I had apparently decided to nap on. Five hundred feet below solid concrete would have broken my fall. Shakily I pushed myself up and looked around for the first time, taking in the view that I was faced with. I was standing atop one of many high rise building which spread out before me in a vast and oddly coloured cityscape that clearly wasn't New York, or even any city I recognised. Every building was formed from concrete, glass and steel and for the most part was a stark clinical white. The only things that had colour were some of the metal structures and the huge advertisements that adorned the largest buildings. Where I was I had no idea but for some reason I got the absurd feeling I wasn't even in the United States any more.

At first I was completely awestruck, and then I began to get a little fearful. What was happening? How did I get here?  
A few seconds more passed then a voice spoke in my ear "Yo Piper quit napping and get a move on. There are deliveries to be made. Get going." I jumped at the voice.  
**_Am I hearing voices now too?  
_**Confused I raised my hands to my head and found an earpiece clipped over my right ear.  
The voice came out of it impatient and irritated "Yes I'm still here. How you can find time to daydream and still stay as far ahead of the blues as you do I'll never understand. Now hurry up Celeste is waiting for you to pass that package. She's under the Red crane." For some reason the word "Blues" filled me with a sense of urgency that I'd never before felt towards the mortal police force. I was taken with the urge to get moving, and quickly.

Still unsure of myself I took a few tentative steps back from the edge and walked along the building away until I reached a section that protruded further than the rest. At the top of the glass slope a huge billboard advertising something I didn't recognise had been erected. Hoping for a view from higher up I climbed onto the catwalk that ran along its base and turned to look out over the city again. From here I could see even further but the sun was glaring straight into my face. I shielded my eyes and scoured the panorama before me looking for some indication of what to do. When I spotted the crane my jaw dropped. It was over a mile away and several stories above me atop a skyscraper. Between me and it was nothing but very high, very angular buildings, massive gaps and some very dangerous looking surfaces with even more dangerous vertical drops where those surfaces ended. What was I supposed to do?  
"GET MOVING!" the voice yelled in my ear, I winced. Seeing nothing else for it I vaulted the rail and began sliding down the steep glass window.

As I gained speed the fear began to build in my chest. There was a gap at the Bottom of that slope and I was either going to break my ankles on the protruding concrete lip and plummet to my death or just plain fall straight in the gap. Even if I reached the other side, the roof top was lined with a chain link fence that I would face plant and fall away from anyway. I shut my eyes and waited simultaneously praying to Aphrodite that this was a dream and hoping that if it wasn't I would land on my head and be killed instantly so I wouldn't feel anything. Neither of these things happened. As it turns out instincts can be a powerful thing and as I reached the void they took over. As my feet hit the concrete sill I pushed off for all that I was worth, still not opening my eyes. In the horrible microseconds that I was in contact with nothing time seemed to elongate becoming hours long. I was reminded of my fall from the skywalk in the Grand Canyon, only this time no one was going to catch me. Then my fingers caught something metal and I clung to it for all that I was worth. After a second or two I opened my eyes again to find I had not only cleared the gap between the buildings but I had leaped far enough to grab the top of the chain link fence with both hands.

Astounded I hauled myself over with far more upper body strength than I was used to. Sure I could swing a sword well enough and I can knife fight with the best of them but it felt like I had been pumping irons in the gym. I felt like most Ares kids looked. Overwhelmed by everything that was happening I just rested my back against the fence and sank to the floor gazing up at the sky, panting. The voice in my earpiece came again but this time it seemed more concerned than irritated "Piper are you feeling ok? You took that like a rookie runner on her first jump."  
"I'm fine Merc" I said the guy's name just popping into my head as if I'd known it forever.  
"Well ok but I think your fall must have really taken you out of commission. More than I first thought. When you're done we'll get you out on the training course with for a refresher".  
For some reason the suggestion that I need training gets me angry "Don't baby me Merc! I've just got to get back into it is all." I can't tell him that I have no idea what I'm doing or who he is. Right now he might be my only hope of remembering how I got here or what I'm doing.

I pushed myself off the fence and stood up, adjusted the bag I was carrying so that it sat more comfortably across my back then took off running. I soon began to relax sliding into a rhythm that seemed to come naturally, marvelling at my own skill as I moved. I had always been nimble, relying on speed and finesse in battle rather than strength but this manoeuvrability came as naturally as breathing, as if I'd been doing it for years. My awareness suddenly jumped to a new level. I could see pathways in the skyline, I could feel the flow of the city. I picked up speed vaulting an air conditioning unit and sliding under a set of steel pipes. Seeing a slightly lower ledge to my right I tic-taced off a couple of adjacent walls to reach it and kept running. As I reached the edge of a building I was so exhilarated that I didn't even slow down. I took a flying leap off some boards left overhanging the edge and flew across the huge gap between two buildings landing on one knee in a canvas rain tarp stretched over a skylight. I had heard about parkour and extreme free running before. One of my previous schools had had a parkour society, and the head had even told me I might have the build for it. At the time I had turned him down because everyone said he just wanted to go out with me. Now I wished I had taken him up on the offer. It would have been worth it to be doing this sooner.

As I hit the tarp with a thud I nearly missed a transmission in my earpiece but it was so faint and distorted with static that I could barely understand what was said. There were two voices but they didn't even sound like they were talking to me.  
"She's not . . . too reckless . . . going to . . ." one voice said.  
Another, younger and vaguely familiar but too distorted by static to place responded " . . . Know but I can't . . .terface is barley functional . . ."  
I tapped my earpiece trying to clear the static but instead the voices disappeared to be replaced with that of Merc again.  
"Sorry about that we seem to be getting some trace interference from blue frequencies. Sorted now though"  
"Cool. Thanks Merc, I'm nearly there now." I started running again seeing the crane above me a few buildings away  
"I hope so Cel's getting pissed". I redoubled my speed launching myself and grabbing a pipe that ran up the side of the building in front of me. Once I went as far as I could I leapt to the side and grabbed a windowsill to my left, pulling myself up I shimmied along and around a corner, hopping onto what appeared to be a service ladder and hauling myself up onto a balcony. The problem after that was there was nowhere to go, no graspable surfaces, no pipes or ladders to get higher.

There was however a red fire door, wood, which looked out of place amongst the glass and steel I was rapidly growing accustomed to. I've never been one for breaking and entering (Well, unless there's a half off sale at the mall) but there didn't seem to be anything else for it.  
"Hiiya!" I kicked the door as hard as I could and it slammed open revealing a service corridor painted bright blue and at the end of it a lift; perfect! I jogged to the end of the corridor and pushed the button. The doors opened with a _ping_ and I stepped in, hit the button for the roof and waited as the doors slid closed. I began to wonder if the city's architects were OCD about colour co-oridnation because the inside of the lift was the same blue as the corridor had been, as was the electronic display that kept scrolling messages across its screen. It said things like "Vote Callaghan" and "Visit the New Eden mall" along with some local news stories that I didn't really care about whilst smooth jazz played in the background. The lift opened and I was atop another massive structure with the crane a few hundred feet ahead. It was a simple matter for me to vault across to the building and scale one final ladder before reaching the base of the crane. There I looked around for Celeste, whoever that was. Within a minute I spotted someone who could only be another free runner. On a building across a woman in a red running top and black track suit bottoms stood waving at me.  
As I came closer she called out "There you are Piper! I thought you'd broken something again. Toss me the bag." I did so and she slung it over her shoulder "here's a keeper" she called throwing me an identical bag "client needs the investigation into his activities to die down before he can take it. He needs us to hold onto it for a week." Then without waiting for me to ask what she was talking about she turned and bolted away leaping across rooftops like a cat.

"Anything else Merc?" I asked.  
"Nope" said the voice "Come on home, the Pizza's gettin cold".  
Relieved that my need to run was at an end I turned and made my way across the roof to another fire door, another lift and a way down to the street. As it began to descend Merc came back on the radio "Heads up Piper. Blue chatter in your area just got hot nothing to worry about but just be aware of them with that bag on your shoulder. You know they normally leave us alone but better safe than sorry." The lift doors opened and I stepped out into a large warehouse area.  
**_Ah well, once I get out on the street I can find some chow. I wonder if this place has a Starbucks._**  
I rounded the corner and froze like a rabbit trapped in headlights. Five uniformed police officers were standing just inside one of the open steel shutters, the rotating lights of a police vehicle flashing behind them. The nearest one spotted me and they all wheeled about, guns drawn.  
"Freeze! Set the bag on the ground and put your hands behind your head." Something told me that would be a bad idea so I did the opposite thing, I bolted. Just as well because a microsecond later a volley of shots blasted chunks out of the concrete wall behind where I'd been stood.  
"Piper get out of there!" came a slightly panicked voice through the headset.  
"No shit Merc!" I shouted. I ran flat out across the warehouse floor leaping to grab the hand railing on a flight of stairs and vaulting over it. I began to climb them as fast as I could, five armed officers in pursuit who took pot shots at me every time they rounded a corner. "Get me out of here!" I screamed for some reason under the impression that he'd be able to find me an escape route.

There was a frantic sound of keys being tapped on a keyboard "Ok I got it. Head up to the roof, twelve blocks over you might just be able to catch the five o'clock traffic report if you know what I mean."  
"No I don't. Talk fucking straight Merc I'm being shot at here!"  
"The City Eye news helicopter Piper it's doing a traffic report along Central Boulevard in ten minutes."  
I put my shoulder to the door at the top of the stairs and burst out onto the roof, the sun momentarily blinding me. I stumbled to a stop and waited anxiously for my eyes to adjust. The stark white of the cityscape didn't do much to help as I squinted around. I heard rapid footsteps on the stairwell behind me and shouting. Not wishing to be caught in a police gun sight again I darted away ducking and dodging I leapt across several buildings, counting off blocks in my head. I had long since left the police pursuing me on another building. At block ten I hit trouble though in the form of an entire SWAT team armed with shotguns and MP5s. For the most part they were slow and all I had to worry about was their bullets. Three got in my way though. The first I took out with a flying kick to the head which knocked him out cold. I scaled the tallest building in block twelve and that's where stupid cops numbers two and tried to kill me. As I came around the corner of a fire exit next to a massive crane the door burst open and two shotgun wielding, body armour clad officers came at me. Only at this dangerously close distance I could see that they weren't regular officers. Unlike the cops who bore CPF on their uniforms the insignia on their white armour and helmets bore the initials P.K.

They trained their shotguns on me and I knew at this range they could never miss, I also knew I wouldn't have time to change course before they pulled the trigger. Instead I slid between the legs of hench one kicking him in the nuts as I did so. He let go of his shotgun in shock which I grabbed as I went by. As I came to a stop right in front of the other guy I flipped the shotgun over in my hand pumped it and fired. The shot blasted straight into his visor, but I guess it was made of some serious bulletproof material because nothing got through. Unfortunately the concussive force of the shot was enough to break the man's neck and send him flying backward. I lay watching in horror as his lifeless body careened backward and toppled over the edge of the building. Silence for a few seconds until there was an audible SMACK! And I could tell even from this far up that he had hit the concrete hard.  
"Holy Crap Piper that was badass!" exclaimed an incredulous Merc.  
Numbed by what I'd just done I got up shotgun in hand and walked to the edge of the building. Steeling myself for the gory image I expected I looked over the lip of the building towards the street below. The guy was there alright lying in the middle of a courtyard as people swarmed around him. I guess his body armour must have held him together because he was still recognisably human rather than a red smear. I wasn't even glad to be alive I was just horrified looking at the loaded shotgun in my hand. I dropped the thing in disgust letting it fall to the street where it misfired upon hitting the pavement eliciting a good number of surprised yells and screams from those nearby. I had to hold my stomach to keep from vomiting with revulsion. I had killed before sure but this felt different, I felt like a murderer.  
In my earpiece I heard static voices again " . . .She looking so . . .Just pixels . . . lines of code . . ."  
**_I can pick up telephone conversations too?_** I thought absently.

I turned away to see the first guy writhing in pain, still no threat. In the momentary calm that followed I began to reason that I had acted in self-defence and that had I not _I _would be the dead one right now. Heck I'd done it about a thousand times before fending off monsters during the war. After a few moments deep breathing I scaled the fire escape and jumped over the razor wire fence to where the crane extended over the city streets below.  
"Here it comes piper I hope you're ready" unfortunately I wasn't sure whether he meant the news helicopter that had just appeared or the swat team that burst out of the fire escape and began to sweep the area. I didn't wait for them to zero me, the helicopter was getting closer. I scrambled up the ladder and onto the crane arm. I ran its hundred foot length and without stopping leapt from it to grab the landing ski on its underside. The cops had spotted me by now and blasted away in my general direction, but the helicopter pilot must have noticed them because he had begun to turn before I had jumped. Soon we were out of range.  
Down the mike I heard coughing and spluttering "Jesus Christ Piper. I just spilt my Joe all over the keyboard." The idea that my suicidal leap of destiny had impressed this guy enough to have him spewing coffee was so absurd I couldn't help laughing.

Several hours, two sore arms and a harrowing helicopter ride later I arrived at what looked like a hollowed out generator or perhaps air conditioning unit, large and round with several slats in the side. Its true nature was given away though by the light shining through from inside. The thing had no door so I had to climb up on top of it and drop down through a hole in its roof. Inside was like a super nerd hideout or something. There were bunks against one wall, a curved sofa, a crate used as a table and a very sophisticated looking computer and surveillance system in the centre of the round room. A guy sat at the computer bank staring intently at the screen and tapping away on his keyboard.  
"Bout time you got here. Pizzas gone cold"  
"Big deal" I said slouching on the round sofa and picking at the cold Hawaiian. I was starving but I was also tired, confused and annoyed.  
"Hey" said they guy not looking round "Old Mercury here had to go through a lot for that Pizza it's not easy to get takeout up here intact you know."  
The pizza froze halfway to my mouth "Mercury?" I asked.  
Mercury span in his chair to face me "yeah me, jeez what's wrong tonight Piper?" He stared at me for a moment "You've gone white".  
I'd gone white because he looked almost exactly like Hermes same elfish features except his hair was a different colour and he looked taller and his eyes were green rather than pale blue.

To cover my shock I stuffed Pizza into my mouth.  
"Well you're hungry at least. I'm not surprised after what happened today."  
"I have no idea what's going on" I said bluntly swallowing the pizza.  
"Neither do I" he agreed clearly not understanding what I meant "The blues aren't normally that overzealous and they've certainly never shot a courier without provocation before. I think . . ."  
"No my l. . ." I stopped myself from calling him my lord. This guy wasn't actually mercury. "No I mean I literally have no idea what's going on. I don't know who you are, where I am, what I'm supposed to be doing or why I just spent the whole day running for my life from a bunch of crazed mortal policemen."  
Mercury's expression changed from amused to concerned "Mortal_ policemen?" _He considered my statement then raised his eyes to the ceiling "God not this again" he looked back at me suddenly serious "What do you know Piper? Is this the result of your head injury again?"  
**_Oh great. Whatever I say he's going to think I'm just having a breakdown.  
_**I decided to bite the bullet and tell him.

In a voice far more brave and sure of itself than I was currently feeling I said "My name is Piper McLean, I'm 17 years old, part Cherokee on the mortal side of my family. My father is Tristan McLean movie star, played the lead role in such films as King of Sparta, I am an only child. My Best friends are Jason Grace, Leo Valdez, Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Frank Zhang and Hazel Levesque. We all attend the same . . ." I paused thinking how much to say "summer camp in Long Island new York.  
Mercury listened without interruption but his brow creased more and more as I went on. When I didn't speak for a while he prompted me to continue. "What else? You haven't told me everything what about your mother?" I bit my lip. This would be a tough sell "My mother is the Goddess Aphrodite, the camp I mentioned; Camp Half-blood? It's a place for Demi-gods like me and my friends to train. We recently won a potentially world destroying war against Gaea and her children the Giants. I woke up on a building this morning."

Silence, not good.  
"Piper? What city is this?"  
"No idea" I answered honestly.  
"Ok. This is bad, the doctor said this shouldn't happen again" he slid out of his chair to kneel in front of me both hands planted on my knees as if to keep me from running away "Piper listen to me"  
**_Here we go_**.  
"Your name is Piper McLean yes, you're half Cherokee yes but your father was not Tristan McLean. Your father was Abraham McLean leader and primary benefactor of the Libertas movement. Your mother was Erika McLean. When you were six, you and your sister Katie Mclean saw your mother killed during the November riots, crushed to death by stampeding protesters trying to escape. At the age of sixteen you left home for the streets where I caught you trying to steal from my home. I took you under my wing and you've been working with me ever since. As far as I'm aware none of those people you mentioned exist. Last time I checked your closest friends were your sister, me and Celeste. New York was flooded in the great Atlantic ridge tsunami ten years before you were born and you were raised here in the city of Argent."  
It was all one big lie. At least I thought it was. Then images began to flash behind my eyes. I saw everything Merc had just described in picture perfect HD clarity and I hadn't known better I could have sworn they were real.  
**_Is this what Jason felt when he got his memory back? I doubt it was this painful. _**The new memories made my head hurt.  
"Easy, easy. Go wash up and lie down. We'll see how you feel when I get back."  
"Where are you going?" I suddenly didn't want him to leave. The raw emotion that had come with the fake memories had made me feel scared and insecure, like I was a little girl again.  
"To find out what made those blues so trigger happy" he pulled himself out of the hole and all I could do was watch him go.

For a while I just sat there my brain churning, new memories fighting with old. Trying to understand everything that happened since I woke up and what everything meant. Eventually I forced myself up and moved over to a small area separated from the rest of the space. Inside was a shower, a sink and a full length mirror and that was about it. It was just as well I didn't need the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and saw myself for the first time. I think I may have squeaked in shock. More migraine fuel. For the most part I looked like me but there were a couple of minor differences. Along with a couple of MASSIVE ones. My clothes were unlike anything I'd worn except maybe during P.E at high school. Black vest top, white tracksuit bottoms, red fingerless gloves and a pair of strange red running shoes that seemed to be moulded to my foot shape. And that was just my attire. My muscles were considerably more toned and defined. I supposed that was because the new me spent so much time hurling herself around the Argent skyline. My hair was the same, short and choppy with short braids just how I remembered it, but the things that struck me the most were the tattoos. Tattoos were something I had never considered. My dad had never allowed them and they were considered an abomination in the Aphrodite cabin, body is a temple and all that jazz. Somehow though I now had a one under my right eye, three black spikes, two emerging below and one from the corner. The other was even more noticeable, a complex techy camo type deal that ran from shoulder to elbow on my right arm. Weirdly I really liked it.

I cleaned up as best I could, washing the dirt from my face, arms and out from under my fingernails, then went back into the main room, Mercury still wasn't back so I crashed on the sofa and soon passed out. I woke what seemed like moments later to a buzzing that came from the earpiece I'd forgotten to take out. I rolled upright and listened.  
Static at first then that older voice again ". . .hear me? We are doing everything to . . .you out. Whatever you do don't . . . as it could be potentially fatal." Frustrated I took out the earpiece and threw it on the desk.  
**_Don't these cops ever take a break?_**  
I lay back on the sofa gazing through the hole in the roof at what few stars hadn't been blotted out by light pollution. I feel asleep again trying to ignore the blinder of a headache being caused by the conflicting memories in my head.


End file.
